The violent clashes occurring in the last week in Serbia in demonstrations against the government testify to a willingly heavy will of the Head of State, Aleksandar Vučić, to harden his approach to his detractors.
What to know
- Armed militiamen intervened alongside the police against demonstrators opposed to the government in several cities in Serbia for a week, making dozens injured.
- Several analysts see it as a manifestation of the will of President Aleksandar Vučić to harden his approach to silence his criticisms.
- The country has been shaken for more than a year by a protest movement which started after the partial collapse of a station which had just been renovated.
“For Vučić, this is an existential issue. He knows that he must crush the protesters to stay in power, ”warns Aidan Hehir, a specialist in the Balkans attached to the University of Westminster.
The researcher sees in the climbing of the last days a worrying illustration of the exasperation of the Head of State in the face of the protest movement, which started last year in connection with a case of corruption before turning into all -round criticism of the regime.
The Serbian president, in power since 2012, “is ready to pay the price that will come with the death of several protesters if that’s what it takes to stay in office,” notes Mr. Hehir.
Srdja Pavlović, a specialist in the region attached to the University of Alberta, notes that violence has always been “the ultimate appeal for autocrats wanting to save their skin and avoid all accountability for their past abuses”.
PHOTO LUDOVIC MARIN, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Serbia president Aleksandar Vučić
The current hardening in Serbia testifies, he says, of the “fear” of the government, or even its imminent end, but could actually have a “high cost” for protesters.
“Aleksandar Vučić is able to shed the blood of Serbian citizens to save his skin politically. I hope that his thirst for violence will not discourage the demonstrators, ”he adds.
After a quiet evening on Sunday, several thousand demonstrators went down to the streets of Belgrade and several other cities on Monday evening. Protesters have notably ransacked premises of the ruling party in Belgrade, before being pushed back by the anti -fertility police, noted an AFP photographer.
Excessive force
The turn of events in recent days also concerns the highest point Ivana Randjelovic, head of the European Civil section of Rights Defenders, who accuses the Serbian government of wanting to “intimidate” its criticisms rather than carrying out as they ask for the holding of early elections.
I don’t really know what’s going to happen now. When the government has wanted to intensify the repression so far, the population has shown its resilience by continuing to take to the streets.
Ivana Randjelovic, head of the European Civil Rights Defenders section
Mme Randjelovic is in particular of the fact that militiamen armed with sticks, metal bars or even glass bottles attacked groups of demonstrators in several cities in the last week.
“We now see them around the country,” notes the activist, who criticizes the police for having actively supported the violent actions of these militiamen rather than trying to defend targeted civilians.
The police also used excessive force, notably passing a 16 -year -old teenager in a city in the west of the country, notes M notesme Randjelovic, which makes little case of the government’s statements that the demonstrators are responsible for violence.
“We saw that in several other authoritarian countries. This is the kind of rhetoric that is often used, ”she says.
Restore “order” in the country
The contestation movement in Serbia began in November 2024 after the concrete awning of a station recently renovated in Novi Sad which left 16 dead. The drama, describes as a symbol of corruption that undermines the government, has pushed a crowd of students, employees and retirees to take to the streets.
PHOTO ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Rescuers on the collapse site at the Novi Sad railway station in northern Serbia in November 2024
In Belgrade, several events bringing together tens of thousands of people were held without a major incident before things get worse. The government, in the hope of appeasing the spirits, initially announced several arrests related to the collapse in Novi Sad, without succeeding in calming the discontent.
The subsequent resignation of Prime Minister, Miloš Vučević, did not satisfy the demonstrators, who have gradually expanded their requests to include the holding of new elections.
The Serbian president accuses them of being “terrorists” acting under the influence of a foreign power and promises to introduce new measures in the coming days to restore “order” in the country.
His authoritarian approach is endorsed by Russia, a long -standing ally of the president. It may also be well received by the administration of the American president, Donald Trump, if she is portrayed as an “attempt to bring the order to anarchists”, notes Mr. Hehir.
Mme Randjelovic thinks that Washington wants to avoid any new home of instability and will do nothing, unless the Serbian diet seeks to destabilize neighboring Kosovo. It hopes for a vigorous reaction from the European Union (EU) to Serbia, which officially continues to want to join the organization even if the process has been lying in length for years.
“All the progressive demonstrators here expect the EU to intervene. Requests for accountability and transparency at the heart of their claims correspond to the program it defends, ”notes Mme Randjelovic.
With the France-Presse agency
